Redemption or Revenge: it's all the same
by CherylB1964
Summary: Scud's death was a deception. While Blade deals with Damaskinos and the reapers, Scud finds himself making a new life with a new group in Florida. A follow up to Betrayal Leads to Bliss.
1. Chapter 1

_I felt bad about killing poor Scud and thought he deserved a chance to have a life where he got to do a little bit of vampire ass kicking of his own. So I'm giving him that chance. Scud's death is a deception and Blade arranges for him to join a new group in Florida.  
_

_You might want to read Betrayal Leads to Bliss first._

* * *

**The Deception**

"Video editing is a wonderful thing" Paulo said clapping Scud on his shoulder. "Scud is officially 'dead'."

"Not until the vamps see it." Blade reminded. "For now as far as they know, Scud is still alive. I'm going for Whistler tonight, but before I do we'll get the video uploaded to the security system and Scud is going to call them with the code."

"Then Reinhardt can get his rocks off watching the little human lose his head. Just remember B, Reinhardt is Damaskinos right hand. He trusts him more than he does his own daughter. Nyssa doesn't have a clue about the reapers. Reinhardt has been in on it from the beginning." Scud said as he tapped keys on the computer.

"You really think they're going to buy this Blade?" Paulo asked.

"I kill vampires and their familiars, They know what will happen to him if I find out what he is." Blade responded.

"They'll buy it. Hell Reinhardt bet I wouldn't last a week." Scud said.

* * *

"So what's the story on this kid? A familiar? That's not you Blade." Paulo said.

"Let's just say Scud has opened my eyes to some things. He made a mistake, I'm just trying to give him a chance." Blade said.

"A chance? How do you know that he won't turn on us first chance he gets."

"Because he knows what they will do to him, and he is tired of of the life he had with them. He begged me to kill him. But he's worth a lot more alive. And he's got a lot to make them pay for. Besides, you trust Lorelei." Blade told him.

"Of course I trust her. She's my daughter!" Paulo yelled.

"And up until a year ago she was a familiar. That's why I asked you to take him, Lorelei can understand what he's been through. I'll have Whistler back tomorrow, but you need someone that knows weapons and that knows the vamps like he does. He's been with Damaskinos since he was 14, that kind of knowledge you don't come across everyday."

* * *

"The little whore got his head chopped off." Reinhardt laughed. "Told you Blade was gonna ice him."

"Yeah but you said within a week, The little shit lasted over a year" Chupa reminded him. "I told you he wasn't stupid. He fooled Blade this long. Got us what we needed in the end."

"The familiar was nothing but another tool to be used. His usefulness has ended thanks to the Daywalker, but yours has not." Damaskinos reminded them sharply. "Blade has his precious Whistler back. Make contact with him."

"I will put the message in Blade's hands myself." Asad said as he bowed. "My Lord."

* * *

**A new home**

Scud huddled in his jacket, The wet freezing cold seemed to go right through to the bone. As Paulo tossed bags into the back of the SUV. Scud shivered. "I thought Florida was supposed to be warm, the Sunshine State all that shit."

Paulo laughed. "Maybe down south, but up here it in the panhandle it gets colder than a witch's tit. Guess that's why we call it LA, Lower Alabama. Wait till summer gets here you'll be praying for winter."

"I doubt it." Scud said trying to pull his coat a little tighter.

"Get in kid, let's go." Paulo said starting the vehicle. "It'll warm up pretty quick. Got a bit of a drive ahead of us, if you have to smoke make it a cigarette huh?"

"A cigarette is something. And you know I don't have any weed you tossed my baggie." Scud grumbled.

"Yeah I did, didn't I." Paulo opened the center console and took out a pack of Marlboro Reds. "Guess they will just have to do, eh Josh? You know you're going to have to get used to being called Josh now. Scud is dead."

"It's just strange, when Damaskinos first bought me, I wanted Josh to be dead. All the shit I had went through. And here I am back to being Josh again." Scud said as he lit a cigarette.

"It's a different Josh though. You're not some naïve kid anymore. You know what they can and will do, because they did it to you. This is your chance to keep it from happening to some other kid." Paulo told him. "But lets get you back to the compound and settled in."

The two rode in silence for a while. Scud stubbed out another butt and said. "You know this piece of shit needs engine work. Right? It's running kind of rough."

"Yeah needs an oil change and some other minor maintenance too. I just haven't had time to take care of it." Paulo said.

"I took care of the car for B. I can get it running right. Well at least if that rod I hear knocking hasn't done too much damage." Scud said wincing at the noise.

"Hey get settled in, meet the rest of the group first. This junker can wait awhile."

* * *

Lorelei watched the SUV coming down the dirt road from the highway. "Hey guys, Dad's back." She yelled bringing the rest of their small group out onto the porch.

She ran down to meet Paulo. "Dad, everything okay? What did he want? Blade wouldn't tell me anything on the phone."

"In a minute for now let's get inside out of the cold" Paulo said putting an arm around his daughter's waist. "Come on Josh, I'll introduce you to everyone."

"Who's this?" Sarge asked coming up to stare at Scud like he was something less than human.

"Guys this is Josh, the newest member of our group, compliments of Blade. He's been with Blade for over a year now as a mechanic/weapons technician. He's working with us now." Paulo explained.

Lorelei stepped forward and held out her hand. "I'm Lorelei, just call me Lori. this overgrown R Lee Ermey wannabe is Sarge, and that scruffy looking creature sitting on the porch swing is Ricky."

"Hey, nice to meet you guys." Scud said nervously.

"Come on in. I know how much of an appetite Dad gets traveling. We can all have lunch and get acquainted." Lorelei said tugging him forward.


	2. In a familiar place

"Josh would you like some more?" Lorelei asked with a smile. Josh had attacked the chili like he hadn't eaten in weeks.

"No thank you, it was good. It's been a long time since I've eaten anything that wasn't nuked." Scud said

"Or had Krispy Kreme on the box." Paulo added. "I think we should let Josh here get to know us a little better. So we'll tell him how we ended up here and let him have some time to take it in. Sarge why don't you start us off?"

"Sure, Master Sergeant Thomas Willison, United Stated Air Force Retired, that's where the Sarge tag comes from, kid. Was stationed over in Ft Walton Beach at Eglin AFB. When my time was up, me and the wife decided we loved the area and wanted to stay. We bought ourselves a little place outside of Milton. One day me and a few guys decide to go out fishing. I got home and found Eileen on the floor in the living room. Them damned bloodsucking bastards had ripped her throat out and left her to bleed to death.

I was trying to find the sons of bitches but being really stupid about it. Asking too many questions, I called attention to myself. Paulo, found me before they did and well here I am. With a new mission. Turn as many of the bastards to ash as I can."

Ricky spoke up next. "I was just passing through. Planning to play beach bum for a while. One of them attacked me on the beach one night. I didn't get bitten though. I have this silver fork I carry with me everywhere. I swiped it from my mom's silver service before I lit out for Florida, just something to remind me of home you know. I stabbed the bitch in the eye with it and you can imagine when she went up it was a shock. Sarge brought me with him when he came since we had crossed paths a few times."

"Me and Lorelie's story are the same story, since she's my daughter. We would have these times when we argued, I was a bit overprotective of her maybe too strict." Paulo started.

"Dad, it wasn't your fault. I'm the one who ran away." Lorelei said and laid her hand over her father's where it rested on the table. "You know how charming they can be, how easy it is for them to seduce us. They tell us of this wonderful existence and we believe them." Lorelei swept her hair back from the side of her neck to reveal a glyph.

"You were a familiar." Scud said softly.

"Yes I was. So I know how easy it is for them to get their claws into us. I was with him for three years until a friend killed him. She got me away from him and got me to come back home. She's the reason Dad and I were able to work through all of this. So just know you're not alone. I'm marked too."

* * *

Scud woke up from the nightmare. For a few seconds he thought he was in one of the cells under The Maze waiting for Damskinos to deliver him to his doom, then he remembered he was in Florida far away. But not far enough to keep the nightmares at bay. He sat up to see a strange woman sitting at the foot of the bed.

"Hello Josh." She said before lunging forward and pushing him back down to the mattress and placing a hand over his mouth. "Shhh, we don't want to wake the others." She leaned forward and sniffed him. Her brow wrinkled in confusion before she sniffed him again inhaling deeply. "You smell funny. There's vampire that I don't recognize and something else. Don't move."

She flipped on the light. "Show me your mark."

"Who are you?" He finally managed to croak.

"I'm Valerie, the person who decides if you live or die now show me!" She demanded.

Scud pulled his lower lip down reveling the glyph as she hissed "Damaskinos!"

"You going to kill me now?" Scud asked. He had known she was a suckhead as soon as she started sniffing him.

"I know what Damaskinos' line smells like." She leaned forward "It's there like a faint aftertaste, but he's not who you belong to. At least not anymore."

She went to the door. "Paulo, come in here a minute."

"Well? Is he lying?" Paulo asked.

"He did belong to Damaskinos at some point but not anymore. He still stinks of Vampire but it's odd. Some line or strain I don't know about." She frowned. It seems like I should recognize the scent but I don't.

"I've been working with Blade for the last year. I haven't been around them long enough to pick anybody's scent." Scud offered.

"Dhampir" She nodded "But that's supposed to be impossible. Then again underestimating the Daywalker has cost many a vampire their existence. You're still a familiar, in time the scent will fade but any vamp coming across you in the near future is going to peg you for Blade's familiar. Hopefully they won't know what they are smelling."

"Blade made him a familiar?" Paulo asked.

"Dhampirs can't make familiars, But I think we may not be dealing with normal rules here. Very few know that Blade's sire is Deacon Frost. Frost attempted to call La Magra and almost succeeded, at the very least he tapped into it before he was destroyed. I think maybe Blade inherited some of that power. It would explain why he was able to do this. As a matter of fact, Blade probably doesn't even know what he has done."

"Blade vouched for him." Paulo told her.

"Well Josh, it looks like you live. I suggest you use a lot of aftershave or cologne when you go out. Take a bath in it. Paulo, you might want to let Blade know so he doesn't accidentally do it to anyone else."


	3. Mr Wizard

"Damn!" Sarge said picking his way through the boxes in the living room. "Doesn't he have enough toys already?"

"He's hooking up Dad's new home entertainment center, those boxes are Dad's toys, not Josh's. He's trying to be helpful." Lori said.

"I'll say. New alarm system, home entertainment center, got that piece of junk outside purring like a kitten; does Blade know what he gave up in this kid?" Sarge asked.

"Hey Sarge." Scud said as he made his way into the kitchen. "So am I tuning up your car or what?"

Sarge placed a Krispy Kreme donut box on the table. "Where else am I going to find a mechanic willing to work for donuts? Of course you're working on it!"

"Wait only a dozen?" How come you get off so cheap?" Paulo asked following on Scud's heels. "I think I got robbed."

Scud pulled a joint from behind his ear. "Hey I had to pull the engine and replace the rings. A little smoke is is more than reasonable. And I don't smoke in the house."

"See, housebroken already." Lorelei said. "And we didn't even have to put down any newspaper."

Scud stuck out his tongue like a puppy and panted at her on the way out the door.

"The kid is adjusting." Sarge said.

"He's still not comfortable around Valerie, but I guess that's understandable. At least she understands. Between his experience with Damaskinos and his time with Blade, he really can't see beyond the fact that she's a vampire." Paulo said.

"That's going to take some time, Dad. We've had a few conversations, comparing war stories you could say. I'm just thankful Valerie got me out of it before I had to go through what he did." Lorelei said.

"He still having the nightmares?" Sarge asked.

"Yes but not as often, usually only when he's been around Valerie." Paulo said. "She thinks that they'll fade in time."

* * *

"What is this kid to you?" Whistler asked. "I mean here we are toolin down I-95 heading to Florida for some asswipe that was ready to put a knife in your back. I don't get it."

"I made him a promise old man. And he's the reason your sitting in this car instead of sucking up blood in some vamp halfway house. How do you think I knew what Damaskinos was up to?"

"Come on Blade. This 'Skid' gave you some sob story and you bought it. Time was you were smarter than that." Whistler said.

"Whistler, drop it. I remember being a dumbass kid with no one to turn to. Luckily there was this old man dumber than I was, since he took me in, taught me everything I know."

"That old man is hoping he won't live to regret it." Whistler mumbled.

* * *

"Josh what in the hell is this?" Ricky asked picking up the ball.

"UV grenade, I made some for B. I figured you guys could use a few too." Scud said as he took the grenade. "I've been improving some of the weapons I worked on for him."

"So what does it explode or something?" Ricky asked.

"Sometimes I think you spend more time stoned out of your gourd than I do. No it doesn't explode. It emits a concentrated burst of ultraviolet light. Guaranteed to fry any suckhead within 20 feet of it when it goes off." Scud explained.

"Cool, and this thing?" Ricky asked.

"That's an auto injector. Just press it against a vamp and the bloodsucker gets a nice lethal vaccine of Silver Nitrate." Scud answered.

"Damn where do you come up with this shit." Ricky asked.

"It just comes to me. I know what hurts them and then just figure out how to make it easier to hurt them with it." Scud explained as he rolled a joint and popped in his mouth. "I've got a couple of other ideas I'm working on. I know what I want, the hard part is getting it built so it works right."

"You'll get it to work man, You're a regular Leonardo da Vinci with this weapons shit." Ricky said. "Sure you don't want to come out with us tonight?"

"Yeah I'm sure. I'll make your weapons and shit, then you guys can go use them. I'm not a fighter." Scud said.

* * *

Josh was totally engrossed with whatever was on the computer screen. He hadn't even realized that she was in the room. Maybe he was starting to relax around her Valerie thought.

"How is our resident Mr Wizard tonight."

Scud jumped up from the chair knocking it over. He stumbled back a couple of steps before catching himself. "V you scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry about that, usually you know whenever I come in the house. You were concentrating so hard on what you were doing, it must be interesting. What is it?" She said coming forward to peer at the complex formula on the screen.

"It's the formula for B's serum. I was working on it before I came here. Trying to figure out if there was a away it could be used as a weapon." Scud stammered.

"His serum? It controls the thirst right?" Valerie asked.

"Yeah, but it hurts. He doesn't complain about it but when he shoots up, you can see that whatever it does is painful. I keep thinking that maybe if we could us it against the suckheads it might give the guys at least a second or two to get near enough to do whatever." He mumbled.

"That's a very creative idea. Any time a human can gain an edge it helps. By the way your UV grenades were very helpful to them tonight. I wanted to thank you for that." Valerie said.

* * *

Blade lifted his head scenting the air "Vampire." he hissed.

Whistler grabbed a gun from from the backseat. "I though you said the kid wasn't in any danger now that Damaskinos was dead?"

"He shouldn't be. Stay here old man."

"Like hell. I don't know what it is about this kid but you don't think straight where he's concerned. I'm coming too. Somebody has to watch your back.

Blade followed the scent of the vampire to the outbuilding behind the house. Finding the door unlocked he slipped inside with Whistler on his heels.

Blade looked at the scene before him. Josh was standing there with a female vamp. The vamp was standing behind him, her hands rubbing his shoulders while they looked at the screen.

"I guess I should have killed you when I had the chance." Blade said.

Scud spun around to see Blade standing in the shadows. An older man who could only be Whistler beside him holding a gun.

"I told you you couldn't trust the little bastard. Once a familiar always a familiar." The old man said.

"B, wait." Scud said amazingly stepping in front of Valerie. "It's not what you think. She's on our side!"


	4. The Ties that Bind

**_*Note this chapter is a bit intense*_**

Valerie pushed her way in front of Scud. "So you are the Dhampir. I knew it would only be a matter of time before we met face to face. We do share some common goals. We both kill our own kind."

Blade growled. "I doubt that. I kill suckheads," he glared at Scud. "And their familiars."

Paulo and Lorelei came running into the the makeshift workshop. Lorelei quickly went to Valerie while Paulo spoke "Blade, this is Valerie. She's been working with us ever since she freed Lorelei from the bastard that had her. She's one of us."

"You won't be killing my familiar if you kill Josh. Odds are that you can't kill him" Valerie said.

"You wanna bet on that?" Blade said.

"Before this goes any farther, there are things you should know. I'm surprised my father didn't tell you before you killed him. But then again he thought Deacon Frost would succeed in raising the Blood god" Valerie said calmly.

"What the hell are you blabbering about?" Whistler demanded.

"Deacon Frost managed to gain power from La Magra; and when he was destroyed, his vampiric child inherited that power. You are right Whistler, Josh is a familiar. He belongs to Blade."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Blade asked for once stunned.

"Somehow you have done what should be impossible for a Dhampir, and is extremely rare even among the purebloods. You have literally bound a familiar to you.

Some of the older purebloods can do this, they choose not to. They don't care enough about their familiars to give them this level protection. That is why they give them glyphs. A familiar that is around his master long enough will have his master's scent cling to him but the scent will fade over time. Josh actuallyf smells like you."

Blade glared at Scud."You came here because of him didn't you?" She asked.

"You spouting off a lot of shit no one has heard before Lady." Whistler said.

"That because few have spent as much time immersed in our history as I have. I am my father's daughter at least in this." Valerie replied.

"She's a pureblood, Blade." Lori said. "Her father was Pearl."

"B, I'm sorry. I mean I don't what happened." Scud said. He was standing by the door leaning back against the wall looking completely miserable.

Blade sighed. "So now I'm stuck with your pot smoking ass for the rest of my life."

"At least we know why keep worrying about the little shit." Whistler said.

"Maybe she should sniff you and see if your puckered ass smells like him too." Scud said.

"I don't know how she can smell anything as much of that shit as you smoke." Whistler said "The only thing you smell like to me is a damned reefer plant."

"Whistler, leave him alone. I knew that the vamps would know he had turned on them after he told me what Damaskinos had done. His smell changed." Blade said. "It changed again when I told him that I wouldn't let them touch him again."

"Then that was probably the moment when you bound him to you." Valerie said, looking at an old parchment. "According to history, having a familiar bound to you in this way is give and take relationship. The Familiar gains full protection from the vampire, and the vampire gains unbreakable loyalty.

In other words, it's impossible for Josh to betray you in any way Blade. It's also impossible for you to harm Josh or let another vampire harm him."

"Guess that's why you were so hot to get down here and tell him Damaskinos is dead." Whistler said.

"Chupa?' Scud asked nervously as he stood up from his slouched position and rubbed his arms as if he had caught a chill.

"The reapers took care of him." Blade said.

Scud let out a long breath and turned toward the door. "That's good." He said softly before leaving.

* * *

"Chupa was the one Damaskinos was going to give you to." Blade said walking to the end of the dock where Scud sat smoking.

"Yeah." Scud took a drag from the joint. "He said I was the type of human who would accept anything because I was tough. He used to come to The Maze and look for me. Usually he'd just grab me and bend me over one of the tables right there in the middle of the club. I could handle that, I was just another whore getting porked up the ass, it was what we were there for.

But he wanted to see just how much I could take before it killed me. Every time he'd drag me off to one of the private rooms I'd think this is it. That he would kill me before it was over.

Damaskinos would get pissed because I wouldn't be able to bring in any money for a couple of days afterwards." Scud tossed the joint in the water. "It never occurred to him that I didn't fight him because I knew he would just make it hurt more, or get more inventive with what he wanted to do. The first time he had me alone, when it was over he calmly got dressed and laughed. He went back up to the club telling everybody how the whore wouldn't be able to walk for a few days. When I finally got my shit together enough to stand up, I limped down to the little room I had, laid down on the ground and curled up in a little ball. There wasn't a part of me that didn't hurt."

Scud rolled another joint stuck it in his mouth and lit it. "About an hour later Damaskinos came downstairs to find out why I wasn't upstairs making him some more money. When he saw the condition I was in, he told me he was going to be 'generous' I could have the rest of the night off. But the next time he wouldn't be. If I was so stupid as to let a client get this rough then I deserved what I got. He said it was my fault, like I could have done something to stop Chupa."

Blade could see the slight shaking of Scud's shoulders.

"You know you don't have to worry about it anymore. They are all dead, you're still here. They are the ones who are fucked now." Blade said as he turned away to head back to the house.


	5. Pearl's Daughter

Lorelei peeked in the garage. As usual Josh was hard at work on something.

"Hey Josh." she said coming up behind him. "You okay?"

"Hey Lori. I'm fine." He said.

"Really? The bottomless pit doesn't show up on Gumbo night and he's fine? You have been hiding in this workshop for hours. Come on, take a break." Lori told him.

"Lori really I'm fine, it's just that Damaskinos and the Bloodpack are dead. It's kind of weird knowing I don't have to look over my shoulder anymore." Josh said.

"That's a pretty normal reaction I guess. Sometimes I still feel like he's there just waiting and then I remember he's dead. But it doesn't happen nearly as much now. I guess one day I won't think of him at all anymore." Lori said.

"It's kind of weird though. This whole thing about me being B's familiar." Scud said. "I mean how is that going to work out? We're stuck with each other. All I know is how it was being Damaskinos' familiar."

"I think you and Blade will be a whole different kettle of fish. Blade is nothing like them. I have to admit it will be interesting to see how the two of you work this out." She reached over and took the screwdriver from his hand. "But for now, there's a bowl of gumbo or two with you name on it in the kitchen."

* * *

"Josh has been a big help to us. He's lucky that Damaskinos never realized just how smart he really is, he would be one of them right now." Valerie said.

"You're a vampire yourself, and you talk about them like you're different." Blade said.

"Don't you think that's a case of the pot calling the kettle black?" Valerie said. "You are Deacon Frost's child, Blade. As much as you hate to admit it."

"Frost is nothing to me. A bad memory." Blade said.

"There was no love lost between you, that's for sure. But even among pureblood's there's more likely to be hate than love between parent and child." She picked up a glass of blood and took a sip. "When you killed my father, I celebrated. I was glad that he was gone. I hated him with a passion.

My bloodline was supposed to be neutral, historians recording the culture. My father betrayed that by aligning with Frost. Frost promised to restore my father to the way he was in his youth. But my father had to make a sacrifice to to prove his loyalty."

"Sacrifice?" Blade asked.

"When Frost put the purebloods on his little altar the night you killed him. One of the purebloods he sacrificed to La Magra was my mother. That bastard gave her to Frost 30 years ago.

But the problem is that Frost was not alone in his delusions. There are others who want to somehow become gods. And they are willing to do anything to attain their goal."

* * *

"Hey Josh, Finally going to come out with us?" Ricky asked handing a roach to Scud.

"Naw man. You know that ain't my thing. I'll hold the fort here." Scud replied.

"You going to be alright here by yourself Josh?" Lori asked.

"No worries, Lori. Ding dong the witch is dead and all that shit. You guys go kick some suckhead ass. I've got some work to do here anyway." Scud said.

"It's better you don't go anyway." Valerie said. "It wouldn't do for any of them to catch your scent. We've got a few old ones along the coast. They would recognize the scent of Dhampir and know you belonged to Blade. Just work on some way to cover that scent."

"Maybe if I bathe in garlic they won't want to get close enough to smell me." Scud said.

"Nobody will want to get close enough to smell you kid. You forget about that idea and I'll bring you a dozen donuts everyday for the next month." Sarge said.

"Well I guess I could forget about it, at least until the month is up." Scud said. "But next month..."

"That's flat out extortion." Sarge said. "You sure you don't own stock in that damned company."

"What's so funny?" Whistler said.

"Stock tip, old man, invest in Krispy Kreme. Sarge is going to be doing a lot of business with them." Paulo said.

Blade looked at Scud and shook his head.

* * *

Blade grabbed Valerie and pulled her back against the wall behind him before tossing a UV Grenade down the hall. When the flash died down he eased around the corner seeing the piles of ash that had been two vampires. The two continued down the hall until they ran into Ricky.

"Looks like we cleared out what was left." Ricky said. "There should have been a lot more of them. Guess they are getting the message."

"Or they are moving their operation. Fernando isn't here. We are going to have to find Fernando." Valerie said.

"Who is Fernando?" Blade asked.

"One of the older turned ones. He was working with Frost on translating the La Magra texts. Deacon beat him to it but Fernando hasn't given up. One of the reasons I'm worried about Josh. If Fernando gets a whiff of him he'll know Josh is your familiar." Valerie explained.


	6. A New Glyph

"You keep saying that these old ones will know that Scud is my familiar. That's too specific for my taste." Blade said.

"Look there's a lot that you don't know. Some things that I'm only learning now. Like the fact that Deacon was a part of something much bigger." Valerie said. "The plan to raise La Magra? They have been working on it a lot longer than you think. They have been manipulating, and plotting for decades.

Did you think it was an accident Blade? That Frost was just so hungry he turned your mother? No it was planned. They needed a Dhampir to raise La Magra. They had to turn a woman who was about to give birth. Frost followed her for weeks from what I gather, waiting for the right moment to strike.

They didn't plan for the fact that you would come across Whistler and he would turn you into their biggest nightmare. But Frost was able to get his hands on you and perform the ritual before you killed him. Fernando is one of those who was in on it. They haven't given up on raising La Magra. You are still alive and now you have two weak spots, Whistler and Josh."

* * *

"What in the hell is that?" Ricky said watching the symbols on the screen.

"Translation program. I'm translating some of Valerie's documents for her." Scud said.

"Wait you're translating the text from Vampire to English?" Paulo asked coming to look over Scud's shoulder.

"Yeah she had some that were translated. It wasn't too hard to write a program that would translate the language." Scud said taking another bite of his donut.

"Wait what is that about La Magra?" Paulo said.

Scud scrolled back in the document. He scanned a few lines then highlighted and printed the section.

* * *

"Hey B, you might want to look at this." Scud said handing him a sheet of paper.

_The reign of blood will end only with the sacrifice of the ancient houses. The blood god will not go easily. His servants walk among us hidden from detection. The deception of the glyph. He has placed many spies among us. He marked his servants with the glyphs of our houses and we cannot tell the loyal from the deceivers. He makes them appear to be ours in every detectable way._

Blade handed it to Valerie.

"Well damn. I had forgotten about this part. The fall of the ancient houses." Valerie went to a shelf and took down a large leather bound book and carried it to the table. She carefully turned pages until she found what she was looking for.

"The Glyphs of the ancient houses. None of the glyphs in use today only appeared earlier than 4000 years ago. These disappeared about the same time the others began to circulate. There had to be a reason for it." Valerie said. "Purebloods are, to use a human phrase, 'very anal' about their house glyphs. There's a lot of arrogance and vanity involved, they wouldn't just stop using them. Maybe La Magra contaminated them somehow?"

Blade and Valerie looked at Scud. "It's worth a try Blade."

"Awww B. I'm not gonna like this am I?"

* * *

"Stop whining Skid." Whistler said with a smirk.

"Ow " Scud whimpered and squirmed as the tattoo gun ran over his flesh.

"Sissy!" Blade hissed at him. "You can handle a little stick from needle... for me."

"Yeah dude. You take the pain, it's a part of submitting." The tattoo artist told Scud, as he continued working on Scud's new mark.

Lorelei had called around and found a tattoo artist who was willing to make a house call without asking too many questions. When the guy assumed it was a BDSM thing, Lorelei didn't correct the assumption.

It was hard to tell but Lorelei got the feeling that Blade was amused as the artist continued to make conversation with a squirming Scud, 'submissive to submissive'.

"My boyfriend had me pierced last month, talk about hurting! He loves that piercing though, can't keep his hands off it."

Whistler wasn't even trying to hide his amusement. "You know, maybe you should get the kid a little collar and a leash Blade. Take him for a walk around the block and show him off to the neighborhood."

"Um, I could use some help in the kitchen." Lori said seeing the look on Josh's face at that comment.

"Go help her Whistler." Blade said also seeing how that one had hit home.

"Almost finished. You know I could pierce him too while I'm here if you want. My boyfriend loves my Prince Albert."

"No, thank you." Blade said quickly. "The tattoo is enough."

Scud flinched as the artist wiped the area one more time. The guy picked up a tube of ointment and rubbed some on the tat. "Okay dude, all done. Just keep putting the ointment on until it heals." He turned to Blade, "If you change your mind about that piercing just give me a call."

Scud lifted his head and looked down at himself. There below his navel and above the waist of his jeans was his new mark. Blade ignored the man, leaning over Scud to sniff him. The tattoo artist couldn't help the little smile that came to his lips. What he wouldn't do to have a boyfriend like Blade, that Josh was one lucky little boytoy.

* * *

"It's not funny! He left here thinking I'm some gay sex slave, B." Scud said on the verge of tears.

"Get a grip Scud. It's better that than having some vamp grab you an make you one for real again." Blade took a deep breath. "That part of your life is over. What some idiot you'll never see again thinks is irrelevant. The only important thing is hiding you from them."

"Well his smell has changed. The Dhampir part is gone. Just keep your clothes on and they'll mistake you for mine." Valerie said.

"Yours?" Scud sputtered.

"Yes I had him use the ancient glyph of my house. Since I'm here in the area it won't raise suspicion." Valerie said. "And evidently, you still belong to Blade since he's reacting to you being upset." She said as Blade handed a joint to Scud.


	7. What's a Dhampir good for anyway?

"Hey kid," Whistler said "So what's all this?"

"Just something I'm working on." Scud said warily. It was obvious the old man didn't like him, no matter what B said. Whistler never missed a chance to remind him of everything he was trying to forget.

"Well that don't tell me much. Looks like some kind of crazy science fiction shit." Whistler said picking up the diagram.

"Well it is supposed to be a UV bow." Scud replied taking it from Whistler.

"Want to explain what it's supposed to do? Blade thought maybe I could give you a hand with something. Maybe if I know what your trying to do, we can put our heads together and make it work."

"Well I'm trying to figure out a way to create a UV beam between these two points. It would be a bitch in close quarters." Scud explained.

"Could slice and dice them without too much trouble, but it's going to take a lot of intricate circuitry though." Whistler said. "What else you working on? Blade said you always have at least 5 different things going on at once."

"Well I did have and idea with B's serum. I mean I've seen him shoot up and whatever it does isn't very pleasant. It's takes a bit for him to get a grip on it. He's pretty much immobile until he does. I was wondering how it might affect a full blood vamp. B's used to dealing with the pain, they aren't." Scud said. "We've got at least 4 ways to deliver it. But if it could immobilize them, we could keep them paralyzed to question them you know."

"You might be on to something there kid. One of the problems we've always had is a human being able to question them, we can't restrain them that long. You got any notes or anything I can look at." Whistler asked.

"Yeah the backup computer, it's networked into this one." Scud said picking up a laptop. "You do know how to use one right, Gramps?"

"Don't push it Skid." Whistler warned.

* * *

"So you think Fernando is still around somewhere?" Lori asked.

"Yes, I do. I don't think his people are stepping up the attacks around here for no reason. I think he he's panicking with word of Damaskinos death making the rounds now. It takes purebloods for the ritual."

"And a Dhampir?" Lori asked.

"And a Dhampir." Valerie agreed. "Josh smells like me now so he should be safe. I'm the one pureblood that Fernando will need alive and not pissed off with him."

"What about Blade?" Lori asked.

"Well since Josh no longer smells like a Dhampir, I don't think Fernando will know Blade is anywhere around, but we need to find him before he realizes that Blade is this close."

* * *

"Hey W, you were with B when he killed Frost right?" Scud asked.

"Frost's people were the ones who snatched me kid. Why?" Whistler asked.

"Just curious. And a bit worried." Scud said nervously rubbing at his bottom lip. "Look everything that we're dealing with seems to come back in some way to this La Magra legend. Blade killed Frost and 'inherited some kind of power from him. Some kind of way with this power he made me his familiar. And now even this damned glyph I just got, it's still La Magra shit."

"Where are you going with this?" Whistler asked.

"Damaskinos was pushing hard on the reaper strain. It was like he was under some deadline or something. Whatever it was, it had him rattled. He had a real boner for killing B, then suddenly almost overnight he's trying to get B on his side." Scud lit a joint. "The reaper strain really wasn't that big of a threat. They wouldn't have survived long enough to wipe out humans, a couple of days of sucking on us and they would have starved to death."

"Well then why did Eli Damaskinos suddenly want Blade." Whistler asked.

"Good question. The only answer I can come up with is that he was scared someone else would get to B first. The only other reason anyone of those suckheads would want B alive is if they needed a daywalker for something." Scud sucked in another drag.

"And the only other reason they would need a daywalker was if they were planning to do the ritual again." Whistler said.

"You got it Pops."

* * *

"Blade we need to talk to you." Whistler said. Scud stood at Whistler's back nodding in agreement.

"The two of you united in something? Shit that's enough to even scare me." Blade said.

"This is serious B. We think somebody is trying to raise La Magra again." Scud told him. "And I think Valerie knows about it."


	8. A traitor revealed

"So you think the reaper strain was was bullshit?" Blade asked.

"Naw, I think it was bait." Scud told him. "When Damaskinos infected Nomak, he knew that Nomak would go after the vamps. But I think he knew that Nomak and the rest would die when they didn't have any vamps left to feed on. Damaskinos would have been the only one left. Just him and maybe Reinhardt and Nyssa."

"Think about that one, Blade. Damaskinos would have had free rein." Whistler said.

"As long as B was dead yeah." Scud said. "I swear I think he used to sprout wood thinking about it. Then he suddenly changed his mind.

He and Reinhardt came to the workshop one night while you were out on another wild goose chase looking for W. Told me that things had changed, he wanted you alive and working with the Bloodpack instead. Reinhardt wasn't happy about the change in plans, but he went along with it.

That was when I hacked into Damaskinos computer and downloaded everything. It didn't make any sense to me that he would suddenly change what he wanted. So when you got back from looking for W, I told you what was going on. It wasn't until I started translating all this shit for Valerie that I could think of a reason."

"Whistler, what do you think?" Blade asked.

"I think shit bird here is on the money. He may be an annoying little pothead, but he's sharp as hell and somebody is looking to raise La Magra again. That's why Damaskinos panicked and asked for that truce. Wouldn't do Damaskinos no good to be the only vamp alive if he had to deal with the blood god."

"The group has been after this suckhead named Fernando since I got here. And you know V was spazzing out about the whole familiar thing." Scud added. "You know B, I have a feeling it was less about hiding me and more about hiding you."

* * *

"So we are going to Mobile tonight?" Whistler asked. "Can't find any suckheads locally?"

"It's where the trail leads Whistler. We go where we have the best chance of catching Fernando." Valerie answered.

"What makes you think he's there?" Blade asked.

"It's the only other business he owns within 100 miles of here." Paulo said.

"Okay Whistler you go with them. I'm not sure how this glyph thing is going to work out. I'm going to hang around here." Blade said. "Until we know this glyph thing worked, somebody has to watch out for Josh and he's my responsibility."

* * *

"Well shit. This fang-faced fucker is slipperier than an oily eel." Sarge spat after another fruitless raid.

"I'd like to know how he keeps staying one step ahead of us." Paulo agreed.

"Yep it is mighty funny ain't it?" Whistler said.

* * *

"Fuck me sideways!" Scud muttered. "I am so fucked!"

"Problem Scud?" Blade asked entering the workshop.

"B, yeah. I'm so deep in the shit right now." Scud banged his head on the table.

"Okay you're fucked. You want to tell me why?" Blade asked.

Scud sighed and held out a photo to Blade. "This is why."

Blade looked at the photo "Son of a bitch."

"Yeah, I'm fucked." Scud repeated.

"Grab a gun Scud, we're going to go find Fernando." Blade said slipping on his shades.

"What? You want me to go with you? Come on man!" Scud protested.

"Would you rather stay fucked?" Blade asked turning around and heading for the door.

"Awww Hell!" Scud said, grabbing a gun and stuffing a couple of UV grenades in his pockets before following the daywalker. He turned back and went to the computer and hit a few keys.

"Scud!" Blade's voice reached him.

"I'm coming. I just thought I'd leave a message for W." Scud said as he hurried outside and got in the passenger seat. "I thought you might want him to know too."

* * *

"Calm down, Blade's with him. The little shit probably ran out of donuts or weed." Whistler said lighting a cigarette.

"That sounds about right." Lorelei agreed. "Nothing's disturbed and the alarm is armed. If something had happened we would know it."

"I'm just worried." Valerie said pacing a bit. "Like Blade said, we don't really know if Josh is safe or not."

"The kid will be fine." Whistler said. In the meantime I'm going to see if I can't make some headway on that idea the kid had for Blade's serum."

Whistler left the group still wondering about where those two were. Whistler was wondering too. Scud was the biggest damned chicken shit Whistler had ever known. For sure the kid wouldn't go off on his own which meant Blade had to have taken him along on something, but what?

Whistler entered the workshop and opened the laptop. To find a single sentence flashing on the screen:

_Don't trust V._


	9. Busted!

Blade couldn't help the twitch of his lips. Scud was standing there gun pointed in front of him, eyes screwed shut and shaking like a leaf. In front of him was a pile of ash that had been a vampire a few seconds earlier.

"You can open your eyes now, you killed him." Blade said fighting to keep a straight face as Scud cracked his eyelid to check before opening them both. Blade shook his head and started forward. "You might want to keep your eyes open next time though."

Blade rounded the corner and stepped into the large room "Going somewhere Fernando?"

"Shit!" The vampire exclaimed looking up at Blade. He dropped into a chair. "The bitch turned on me didn't she? She was supposed to keep you off my ass. That was our agreement. "I suppose you are going to kill me now?"

"Actually I have some questions for you." Blade said.

"You want to talk? All your little group wants to do is kill us. You know being human makes you food, or a familiar like that sorry bastard over there.

"Who said I was human?" Blade said.

"Oh fuck! You're the daywalker! But you're supposed to be in Prague!" Fernando gasped.

"I decided to take a vacation in Pensacola. I want to know about La Magra."

* * *

"Damn, I'm out of smokes." Whistler said. "I'm going to make a run to the store. Sarge and Ricky still around?"

Sarge went home and Ricky bummed a ride said something about sunrise on the beach." Lorelei said.

"Well Paulo, want to ride along keep me company?" Whistler asked.

Why not? You need anything Lori?" Paulo asked.

"Milk for breakfast."

"We'll be back before you know it." Whistler said.

The two men went out and got into Paulo's old Bronco. When they had traveled some distance from the house Whistler spoke. "Tell me how you got mixed up with Valerie."

* * *

"B, I told Whistler not to trust V." Scud said as they got into the car. "Do you think Paulo is in on it too."

"I don't know, but for now we treat him like he is." Blade said.

"I talked to her B. Told her a lot of stuff." Scud leaned his head back against the headrest. "She knows everything about me B. Everything I went through."

"You tell her about anything you're working on?" Blade asked.

"No, just the shit I went through with Damaskinos." Scud said shaking his head.

"Don't sweat it Scud. Let's get back to the compound before she finds out Fernando is dead." Blade said giving the car a bit more gas.

* * *

"Valerie brought Lori back to me. When Lori ran away she got hooked up with a vampire named Byron. Valerie had been hunting him for a while. She caught up to him and killed him. Valerie took care of her and when Lori had gotten over Byron's death Valerie called me. She got us to talk to each other, brought us back together.

By that time I was hunting them myself looking for Lori. Valerie thought it would be a good idea to pool resources. We started working together. We've been helping each other out since then."

"So It was Valerie that initiated the contact?" Whislter asked.

"Look Whistler, I know you and Blade are close and neither one of you trust a vamp as far as you can through them, but I'd trust Valerie with my life." Paulo said.

* * *

"More translations?" Lori asked looking over Valerie's shoulder.

"Yes Josh has been such a big help with it. We're almost done. Just a bit more and we'll have everything we need to know about La Magra. That means we can keep anyone else from trying, We'll know what to look for and what to destroy." Valerie said.

"You're really that scared of someone raising the blood god?" Lori asked.

"Of course I am! La Magra is not called the blood god for no reason Lorelei. If anyone raises that thing we're all dead, humans and vampires. It won't stop until it has destroyed everything. 4000 years ago all the ancient houses put aside their differences and the eldest of those pureblood houses sacrificed themselves to stop La Magra.

I know that it can never be released again. I will do whatever I have to do to keep that from happening." Valerie said.

"Including betraying your own kind to humans." Lori accused.

"What?" Valerie turned to find Lori holding a gun on her.

"Josh can finish the translations without you now. We don't need you anymore, Valerie." Lori said. As her finger tightened on the trigger, she was grabbed from behind fouling her aim.

"You are so busted." Scud said.


	10. A new life

"You went to a lot of trouble for a suck head who was willing to give you up to save his own ass." Blade was saying.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lorelei said.

"Sure you do Lori." Scud said reaching for her lip and snatching his hand back when she tried to bite him.

"Leave her alone dammit!" Paulo said.

Blade shot him a look and then grabbed Lori's head holding it still, while Scud gently pulled her bottom lip down revealing a glyph.

"I have Damaskinos mark in the same spot." Scud said. "Just be glad it wasn't on your other lips."

"Lorelei?" Paulo questioned in confusion.

"What?" She spat. "Did you really think that I came back here because I missed you and wanted us to have some wonderful father daughter relationship? Truth is I was planning on feeding off of you first."

Scud suddenly laughed. "Did you think he was going to turn you? And here I thought I was the stupid one.

At least I knew exactly what was ahead for me. Even if I hadn't been smart enough to turn to B to get away from them, even if I had been the perfect little familiar I still would have ended up dead in an alley somewhere when I wasn't pretty enough for them. The same thing that would have happened to you when Fernando didn't need you anymore."

"Fernando promised." She said.

"Like he promised to protect you? As soon as he figured out who B was, he gave you up to keep B from killing him. Not that it made a difference in the end." Scud snorted.

Lorelei looked at Blade. "You killed him?"

"It's what I do." Blade said.

"Fernando told us the whole story. He sent you to worm your way in with Byron because he knew Valerie was hunting for him. Valerie didn't save you at all, you worked your way in with her because she had access to all the documents about La Magra. Then he found out your father was looking for you."

"You were the one who started dropping hints about how your father would never forgive you. You asked me to help you." Valerie said. "I only tried to help you. And tonight you were going to kill me. I considered you a friend."

"She didn't need you anymore. She had Josh to finish the translations." Blade said. "You left the photo in the workshop for Josh to find didn't you Lori? The one of Valerie and Deacon Frost. You set her up for me to kill her."

"I had to do something, Josh wouldn't cooperate." Lori told him. "I tried."

"It pissed you off something fierce that I wasn't interested in fucking you, didn't it." Scud shook his head. "No offense, but after the time I spent in The Maze, I ain't interested in fucking anybody for a while."

"So what do we do with her now?" Valerie asked.

Paulo who had been silent since his first outburst answered. "There's only one thing to do, kill her. She's no daughter of mine."

* * *

"Blade, before you leave I'd like to talk to you. I know that you are going to go back out there and kill vampires but you need to know that some of them will never stop trying to raise La Magra.

I'm not the only one that doesn't want that to happen. La Magra was stopped before because 12 Purebloods chose to sacrifice themselves. For now La Magra sleeps but if someone ever were to truly wake him, It would take 12 purebloods willing to sacrifice themselves. These are the names of those who have agreed to make that sacrifice if necessary." Valerie said handing him a rolled parchment.

"You trust me with this?" Blade asked.

"You're trusting me with Josh, we both are holding something that is important to the other."

"You and Frost, you looked pretty happy in that picture." Blade said.

"It was taken a long time ago, before he knew anything about La Magra. Before he became obsessed with the legend." She said. "I sometimes wonder, if I had never mentioned it would he have still turned out the way he did. But it is what it is. His thirst for power was as unquenchable as his thirst for blood in the end.

* * *

"Sure you want to stay here Skid?" Whistler asked.

"I'm sure Gramps. Valerie needs the help and if La Magra rises we both know I won't belong to B anymore. Scud said. "Besides they are one body short. They can use all the help they can get, even if it comes from me."

"Don't sell yourself short kid. You're smart, that's the biggest part of what it takes to fight these fuckers." Whistler said. "Just lay off the weed, huh?"

Whistler and Scud turned as Blade approached the car. He reached inside and pulled out a pair of shades. He handed them to Scud. "You even think one of these suckheads is considering raising La Magra call me." Blade got in the car and started the engine.

"That means when you're ready, call." Whistler said getting into the car.

Scud slipped on the shades and watched as the disappeared into the distance.


End file.
